Taian Travel Guide
Located at the central part of Shandong Province, Taian occupies an area of 7762 square kilometers and has a population of 5.43 million and administers such 6 county-1evel regions as Taishanqu District, Daiyuequ District, Xintai City, Feicheng City, Ningyang County and Dongping County. Taian is a known city of tourism as well as one of the China National-class Sanitary Cities. In l982, it was ascertained by the State Council as one of the tourist cities firstly opened to foreigners.
"If Mount Tai is stable, so is the entire country" with "tai" and "an" implying peace and stability respectively. Since reform and opening up initiated in the late 1970s, Taian's economy has been developing rapidly and people's living-level has been improved greatly. The 2001 GDP amounts to 44.8 billion Yuan, 12.2% above that of the previous last year. Taian's main industries cover machinery, electronics, chemicals, textiles, building materia1s, coal, electricity, instruments, etc. Agricultural produces includes oils, cereals, cotton, fruits, vegetables, livestocks, etc. Consultation and information systems are well built. Foreign trade and cooperation partners come from 91 countries and regions. Import and export commodities consist of more than 500 kinds, and investors from 30 countries and regions have started companies here.
Taian is a historic and cultural city. The Dawenkou culture flourished in Taian around 5,000 years ago. In 200BC (early Western Han Dynasty), the Taishan Prefecture was established, and in 1136, the Taian Prefecture was set up. The word Taian comes from the saying.
Tourism is the advantageous and pillar industry of Taian city. As the world famous mountain, the mountain Tai holds profound culture and beautiful scenery. With the national forest park - Mountain Culai at the east and Dongping Lake at the west, it enjoys abundant tourism resources. The mountain now can accommodates 5.16 million tourists, which makes an annual income of 2.8 billion Yuan RMB. During the period of "the Tenth Five-year Plan", the emphasis is put on the tourism line around the Mountain Tai, food, entertainment, cultural tourism, race course, etc., further development of Mountain Culai and Dongping Lake.
